The New York Yankees have inquired about a potential Matt Kemp trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kemp would be an absolute beast in Yankee Stadium if healthy and would represent the biggest potential upgrade we could have over the Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells duo.
Kemp is entering his age 29 season and is owed a ton of money going forward, $128 million through 2019 and an AAV hit of $20 million per season, but a deal would be really tough to get done. First the Dodgers would presumably want the Yankees to take on all of the remaining salary where we would want the Dodgers to eat somewhere up to $5 million per season AAV wise if possible. Also the Dodgers are a very win now team so unless we can fill their third base void with David Adams, their pitching void with Adam Warren or David Phelps, then the deal is going to get hairy.
The Dodgers have four outfielders in Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier, and Carl Crawford and the Dodgers are looking to trade one of the four to make full time room for Puig. Kemp is not without his questions marks with his health as evident by his ankle surgery this offseason, his shoulder surgery last offseason, and various other injuries including some lost time due to a hamstring this season but the upside, if proven to finally be healthy, is insane.
Imagine a Yankees lineup with Kemp's bat in the middle of it, Robinson Cano, and the recently acquired Brian McCann:
Gardner
Jeter
Cano
Kemp
Teixeira
Soriano
McCann
Nunez
Ichiro(DH)
I'd only take Kemp if the Dodgers kick in a few million a year. But being signed that long scares me a bit.
ReplyDeleteI have never been a Kemp fan, I don't know why but, he just doesn't fit the money he is getting.
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